Wulf snorted. “And why shouldn’t she? You’ve been denying her very existence since we began this mission.”
“Yes … all right … I’ll admit it … I care for Nadia. I-I love her, but…”
“There is no ‘but.’” Wulf shook his head and growled. “Huw, I’m not sure what rod you have up your ass about mating with a Terran, but let’s face facts—you are bonding with Nadia. You can’t continue to deny the evidence. We all see it. You’re hurting her, brother.”
“I know.” Huw grimaced. “I will make it up to her.” He looked at his brother. “I could not approach her before now.”
“What in Balcon’s balls do you mean, you could not approach her before now?”
Wulf frowned and his eyes held disbelief.
“I have cared for Nadia since I met her. I grew to love her courage, intelligence, beauty, spirit.” Hue looked his brother in the eye. “But I could not offer her a relationship of any sort until I was sure I had no gemate waiting on her gemat. If I had, I would not only have dishonored my potential gemate, but would also have hurt Nadia when I had to leave her.”
Wulf closed his eyes and muttered curses under his breath. Huw winced. “You mean to tell me you hurt Nadia’s feelings and denied the obvious signs of more than a physical attraction between you on the off chance you might … might find an unmarked Prime female on this mission?”
“Yes.” Huw firmed his mouth when his brother started to swear once more. “You found Mel when there had been no hope at all. Could I do less when there was even a small chance?”
Wulf shook his head and began to chuckle. “When you put it that way, I guess not.”
He laid a hand over Huw’s. “You’ll need to court her—and I suggest starting with an apology on your knees. You hurt her very much.”
“I know. It hurt me also.” Huw swallowed past a giant lump of regret in his throat.
“It was like cutting off a vital part of me, but I felt I could do nothing else. I didn’t want to tell her I loved her and then later have to reject her if a miracle happened.”
“Tell her that.” Wulf’s voice was soft. “It might go some way to allow her to trust in your honor.”
But what if she rejects you? Even after you apologize and explain your actions or lack of actions?
Failure was not an option. He’d have to woo her into his bed and bind her to him with sex. He needed to claim her openly, declare his intentions, and make sure no other man could steal her away. That will not happen. He would grovel if he had to.
Wulf punched him on the arm. “If I were you, I’d greet Nadia upon her return to the ship and begin courting. You have lots of ground to make up. But for now, you have the Command Deck. I will join Melina in the storage bay and help receive the bodies of our dead Lost Ones.”
Huw nodded, not envying his brother the sad task. “Thanks for listening and your advice, brother. You will have a new sister-kin soon. I intend to do all I can to convince Nadia to be my mate, uh, my wife in the Alliance way.”
A strange light entered and left Wulf’s eyes and his lips twisted before straightening.
Huw puzzled over his brother’s expression—it looked a lot like a smirk. “Let me know if anything happens on planet that Mel or I need to be aware of.” Wulf saluted casually and strolled to the lift.
Huw took the seat Wulf abandoned and donned the command head set. Iolyn came to stand next to him, a grin on his face.
“You heard all that?” Huw asked.
Iolyn chuckled. “Yes. Maybe you should invest in some knee guards for all the crawling and begging you will be doing in the near future. If I were Nadia, I would make you pay.” Iolyn sat in the chair next to Huw and put on a com unit to monitor the oral feed from the teams on the planet. “You, brother, need to act quickly to secure Nadia’s affections. She is a fine woman—and many members of the crew have their eye on her.”
Huw growled. “They can find another woman. Nadia is mine.”
He had to make a plan to get Nadia into his bed. If he couldn’t seal the deal and make love to her, he didn’t deserve to be called a man. He wanted her attached to him completely. Then he would do everything in his power to make up for his previous behavior for the rest of their lives.
And he had better do all of this wooing sooner rather than later, because the pain of denying Nadia’s mental touch was getting worse every day.
Chapter 16
Ursa 345
“Commander,” Bre Jod called to Nadia from a side tunnel off one of the main arteries of the huge underground complex. “Come see this.”
Nadia abandoned her examination of what she’d concluded were man-made handholds. The grips carved into the solid rock wall should’ve led to an upper walkway hidden behind a waist-high curtain wall such as the ones found in the Prime complex on Obam IV, but didn’t. Something had caused a cave-in and the upper walkway and any of the rooms off it were now buried under tons of granite.
The whole frigging planet was a solid ball of granite and iron, and the underground complex was definitely not natural. It had been carved out … whether by the Prime or a planet inhabitant was the question for which she and her team sought an answer.
“What have you found, Bre?” She stood next to the tall Prime and stared at the wall he indicated. “What am I looking at?”
“This tunnel is new.” He traced the variance in coloration of the wall from top to bottom. “This rock has only been exposed to environmental conditions for the last ten or so standard years. Our people could not have done this.”
“Theories, Bre?” Nadia’s gut wasn’t happy. She moved in closer and spotted etching in the granite. It took a lot to etch granite. A laser-cutting tool could do it. The ancients on Earth used chisels and hammers. Or…
“It was chemically hewn.” Bre held up his analyzer. “Some strong acid. The chemical composition resembles nothing I’ve ever seen.”
“Shit. Giant worms use acidic secretions to digest their food.” She shuddered at the memories threatening to take her over. “What if the creatures on this planet also excrete strong acids?”
Bre nodded. “Very possible. Also, the bodies we found, though dehydrated, had teeth that were still intact and as hard as diamonds. The creature could also eat rock.” He touched a pattern of scrapings in the tunnel wall. “These are very regularly spaced. It might use its acid to soften the rock and then it eats it and creates a passageway.”
“But why kill the Prime crash survivors if its diet is mineral?” Nadia’s stomach roiled at the thought of the women and children running from the creatures. “No, don’t answer that. The creature must’ve felt threatened and killed them.” And liked the taste and decided to eat some more. “God! I hope there aren’t any live worms left. They have a taste for human prey now.”
“Commander, the creatures must have been here when the Prime first landed and adapted the caves for their use. Why wasn’t there a warning about this planet? Why would the Lost Ones come here?” Bre’s face flushed dark red with his anger. “Coming here was a death sentence.”
“Maybe they didn’t have a choice. After we receive the report from the team examining the ships and study the survivors’ logs, we’ll know more.” Nadia looked at the wall and followed it up. “There has to be an upper tunnel—and a room where the first Prime who came here left records. The upper walkway which the Prime added in the main hallway has collapsed.” She led the way out of the side tunnel and back to the main passage.
Nadia pointed to the handholds and the Prime markings indicating the hidden walkway. “See? I’ve seen similar on Cejuru Prime in the fortification outside the capitol—and Mel reported on the ones on Obam IV.”
“Then we should advise the other two-man teams to be on the lookout for such adaptations?” Bre asked.
“Yeah. Contact the others and tell them what we’ve found. I’ll go farther up this tunnel and see if the upper walkway opens up.” She left Bre at the tunnels’ intersection and headed for wh
at looked to be the main tunnel’s dead end, about ten meters ahead.
As Nadia walked, she dictated her observations. “Ceiling height remains at approximately fifteen meters. Prime markings and handholds are evident all along this particular corridor. There is a distinct possibility there could be an upper walkway leading to storage and/or safe rooms.”
She paused and touched Prime symbols, which she loosely translated as “climb up”
and a letter and a number. “The Prime who adapted the tunnels labeled the lower and upper corridors with an alpha-numeric system. If the underground complex proves safe, it would be interesting to have a scientific team map the facility and compare it to other ancient Prime facilities documented in the galaxy. I know of three in the Steppes of Russia that remind me of this complex, but they weren’t nearly as sophisticated.”
Nadia reached a solid wall. “The tunnel ends abruptly with no markings.” She ran her handheld sonar over the wall. “The dead end appears to be a collapse. I read an open space behind it. The fill is not loose, but is a block of granite as high as the tunnel ceiling and two meters thick.”
Bre came up behind her. “Dead end? That makes no sense.”
“There’s an opening beyond. This block of granite either fell or was placed here.”
Nadia looked at the smoothness of it. “I’m thinking placed. To block out the creatures?”
She looked at Bre whose lips were fixed in a thin, grim line.
He nodded. “That would seem logical. The Prime who came here many millennia ago might’ve tried to box the creatures out of the tunnels they’d taken over.”
“The creatures would just eat through them.” Nadia stated the obvious.
“Maybe the Prime didn’t stay around long enough to know that. Ursa 345 was probably a way station infrequently used and they only needed security for short periods of time. These walls would slow the creatures down.” Bre shook his head. “Or at least I would hope so.”
“Then why hasn’t one of the creatures eaten through this one?” Nadia asked.
“Maybe they didn’t need to.” Bre looked around. “If their major diet is mineral-based, they have a whole planet to eat.”
“Too true.” Nadia with Bre by her side retraced her steps. A grinding noise above them had them looking at one another and then up. Cracks appeared in the rock ceiling and widened at a rapid pace, sending a shower of dust and rocks on them. A hot smell of acid eating at rock permeated the air.
Holy hell! Nadia froze for a split second, but it seemed like an eternity. Her primitive brain forced her to move. She shoved Bre in the opposite direction and followed him. She yelled between labored breaths into her com unit. “Get everyone … out of the tunnels …
and caves … now! There are still live creatures down here.” They raced through the main tunnel and headed for the exit to the surface.
“Nadia! You’re in danger?”
Nadia had sensed Huw’s mental touch riding on the surface of the walls she’d constructed to keep him out. The shock of the creature eating through the tunnel ceiling, and her resulting gut-wrenching fear, had demolished her iron control. Her shields were down and Huw was inside instantly. “Can’t deal with you now, Huw.”
Huw remained silent inside her head, but his male energy rushed to supplement her own cortisol and adrenaline cocktail.
Behind her and Bre, more rocks fell as the jagged opening in the ceiling widened.
Bre hung back, his weapon at ready, covering her ass.
Still running, Nadia looked over her shoulder. “Stop being a macho Prime. Get a move on! That’s an order, mister!” She had her laser pistol in hand with the power set as high as it would go. “We leave together or not at all. If it comes after us, aim for the head.”
“Yes, sir.” Bre sprinted to close the distance between them.
Both of them looked over their shoulders frequently. It was hard to see if anything pursued them due to the cloud of dust emanating from the hole in the tunnel ceiling.
“Not too far to the entrance cave now, I see light.” Nadia took a precious moment to pull her facemask down. The surface couldn’t sustain oxygen-breathers for long. Bre did the same. When they hit the surface, they’d have to hoof it until they reached their team.
Safety in numbers and higher firepower.
“Aeron!” she yelled into her com unit.
“Yes, Nadia.” Aeron’s voice was calm, but she heard the tension underlying it. “How can we help? Z’es and his teams are ready to enter and…”
“No! Keep everyone out. Take a head count. I don’t want anyone underground. Be ready with the chemical grenades. I want to fire this thing up if he follows us out.”
The chemical grenades would react with the acid in the worm and burst into flames; at this point, she wasn’t a scientist interested in examining a potential new species. She was a very scared human not wanting to take a chance at the creature snacking on her teams.
“Commander, it’s following us. I see flashes of glowing skin among the detritus.”
Bre’s words were breathy from exertion, but his aura was calm. Her geological engineer was one cool customer. “It seems to be smaller than the dried hulks we found.”
“I don’t care.” Nadia huffed as she climbed the last few steps to get out of the tunnel and into the large entry cavern to the complex. “It’s a dead baby. I hate snaky, wormy creatures. And it’s not safe to keep one alive.”
“Agreed, Commander.” Bre picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. “I can run faster and the baby is slithering along too rapidly.”
“God!” Nadia’s breath came out in gasps as she bumped up and down on Bre’s shoulder.
“Nadia. Bre is touching you. Why?”
“Not now, Huw!” What a time for Huw to pick to be jealous. As if he had any right to be after the way he’d treated her.
Fear froze her next breath as she spied the creature chasing them and closing the distance. Man, that worm was fast. Huw’s mental energy forced her to breathe since she seemed to have forgotten how.
Even if the pseudo-worm was a young one, the creature was still huge—and it was intelligent. She sensed its emotions. It read as hungry. Its mouth gaped and its body glowed a black green under the artificial lighting of the cavern. The worm left a trail of slime, which vaporized the rock floor. Its teeth dripped the same goo.
Ooh, ick! A phantom hand stroked her hair, imparting comfort as Huw’s male energy calmed her stomach.
Placing her free hand on Bre’s ass, she braced herself and raised her laser weapon.
She placed three strong blasts into the spot between the worm’s nasal slits. Most living creature’s brains were centrally located in the heads. Most head shots usually did the job.
But not this time.
“Shit! It’s still coming.” Nadia yelled as they broke onto the surface.
Z’es’s security teams were there to meet them. They let loose with their laser rifles.
“Aim for head,” she shouted. “Get some men to the side and attempt to sever the head from the body. We’re too close to use the grenades.” And the creature moved too fast to put enough space between them and it.
Ten men and women shot at the worm, but it still slithered its way across the surface, literally eating up the ground as it came.
Bre reached their ground transports and tossed Nadia into the driver’s side. She scooched across the seat and he hopped in behind her. Breathing heavily, they watched as the security team blasted the creature’s head from its body. The body sans head continued to move forward. The head wiggled and squirmed where it had fallen.
“Shit!” Nadia knew such things happened, but she had never seen it before. “Z’es!
Be careful. The creature is dangerous as long as its main nerve stem is synapsing. Do not touch it or its slime trail. The acid is strong enough to dissolve granite on touch.”
“Yes, Commander Nadia.” Z’es walked toward the head, but stopped at a respectfu
l two meters away. “The head seems to track me. It’s using its sense of smell to track us.
What should we do? Can it regenerate its body?”
Aeron had come to stand by the vehicle in which she and Bre sat and replied in Nadia’s stead. “I would say yes. We have sea worms on Cejuru Prime that can regenerate their bodies as long as their head is alive and their main neural system is mostly intact.”
Nadia nodded. “Do we have pictures, Aeron?”
Aeron stifled a chuckle. “My astrozoologist recorded the mad dash you and Bre made. She was so excited, we have not only images, but also video.”
“Good. Z’es … get everyone back and blow the head with the chemical grenades. I want the head vaporized. We’ll vaporize the body once we get skin and tissue samples.
We need to analyze the acid—if we can find a container to store it.” She wouldn’t allow anything on the ships that might endanger the crews.
“Gladly, Commander.” Z’es gave the order and his team retreated.
The creature’s head swiveled on the ground. It had already begun growing a new body. For a split second she could read its thoughts, its intent. It wanted to eat the tasty bipeds; it and its brethren had eaten the others—the Lost Ones—in the past.
Nadia shook off the empathic connection. “God, Z’es. Kill the damn thing. It’s going to make an attempt to go for one of you.”
Z’es took the chemical grenade launcher and aimed. The creature raised its head and acid dripped from its teeth, sending caustic gasses rising from the ground.
The shot was a direct hit to the head. The grenade exploded. A localized chemical reaction emitted flashes of bright green and white light and an almost instant incineration.
Once the smoke cleared, all that was left of the creature’s head was a dark greenish-black dust, which began to eat a crater in the granite ground.
“Ansu bhau!” Aeron turned a shocked look at Nadia and then back to the rapidly growing crater. “That is some strong acid. The grenade should’ve burned it up. The fact we have ash is amazing.” The chemi-grenades usually left residue so minute it became dust motes floating in the atmosphere. “Maybe we should take a reading and not try to carry any of it to the ships. I would be afraid of the acid making holes in the ship’s hull.”
Prime Selection Page 20
